Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / The Times Are Changing, What Can We Learn from The Past Ep. 69

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The Times Are Changing, What Can We Learn from The Past Ep. 69 · Chef's PSA Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello Chefs, This is Chefs PSA Podcast.
• 0:02
  I'm your host Andrea Natera on today's episode.
• 0:04
  We're going to talk about. How times are changing?
• 0:06
  Stay tuned. OK, so before.
• 0:19
  We get into the show. A quick update.
• 0:21
  I'm still. Doing my chef in residence I
• 0:23
  got. Four more weeks at Tilly's at
• 0:25
  camp. In Dripping Springs TX.
• 0:28
  So if. You're in the area and you want
• 0:30
  to come try the. Food come out.
• 0:31
  We'd love to have you. It's been fun being back in the
• 0:34
  kitchen. Knocked off all the rust.
• 0:35
  I did a podcast about Kitchen Rust.
• 0:38
  I think that's. Pretty much done.
• 0:39
  Now I'm. Back in the grind, the food is
• 0:42
  getting consistently. Better, as I talked about in
• 0:44
  another. Podcast I'm a big.
• 0:45
  Believer in rapid prototyping. Every day we have a pre shift
• 0:49
  meeting. We talk about what we can do
• 0:50
  better and then. Every day we have a post shift
• 0:52
  meeting to talk about what we can.
• 0:53
  Do to improve. So minor adjustments are always
• 0:55
  made every day. A little bit of this, let's cut
• 0:58
  the chives finer and let's work on that.
• 1:00
  Let's add a little gas streak to this.
• 1:03
  Add a little more acid to that. This is what I recommend to
• 1:06
  chefs is every day you should be constantly.
• 1:08
  Refining and constantly. Critiquing for improvement.
• 1:12
  Anyway, that's just random. Advice #2 if.
• 1:14
  You want to support the show? You know what to do.
• 1:16
  Go to chefspsa.com. You could get all the books
• 1:19
  there, including the free ebooks, which again, they're
• 1:22
  free. You should get them but.
• 1:24
  If you want a. Tip on the free ebooks.
• 1:26
  I'm not opposed to. That and for those of you that
• 1:28
  have. It's greatly appreciated.
• 1:30
  If you're a new. Chef you want to?
• 1:31
  Get line Cook Survivor manual. Or how not to?
• 1:34
  Be the biggest state in the kitchen.
• 1:35
  If you're new into. Leadership Culinary Leadership
• 1:37
  Fundamentals is a good. Place to start or.
• 1:40
  Bad soup, Good chef. Kind of answers all those
• 1:42
  questions that you have. The anxiety that's going through
• 1:45
  your mind as a new chef. Kitchen Art of War is a little
• 1:47
  bit more. Advanced strategic thinking.
• 1:50
  It's. A little bit more of a difficult
• 1:52
  to read. It's written in the style of Sun
• 1:54
  Tzu, so if you like. That style of book that's a good
• 1:57
  read because I. Don't know of any other culinary
• 1:59
  books that are. Written in that.
• 2:00
  Style so for my. Philosopher chefs out there.
• 2:03
  That's the one you want. You can also get the merch.
• 2:06
  It's hoodie season. Hoodie weather.
• 2:08
  Go get a hoodie. Go get.
• 2:10
  A happy cook hat. Go get some T-shirts.
• 2:14
  Look at a magic. Chef.
• 2:15
  Juice water bottle or line cook water bottle.
• 2:18
  People ask what's line cook water.
• 2:20
  Who knows what line cook water is.
• 2:21
  It's probably not water though. The books are also available in
• 2:24
  Spanish and Italian. So those are translated so you
• 2:27
  could get them in multiple. So you can get.
• 2:29
  One for everybody in your kitchen.
• 2:30
  You have no excuses. Get your kitchen better.
• 2:32
  You don't. Have a manual?
• 2:32
  This is your manual, but we digress the topic at.
• 2:36
  Hand times are changing. I did a podcast.
• 2:38
  A while back titled. Is the culinary.
• 2:41
  Ship sinking. Got a lot of DMS on it and my
• 2:44
  wheels have been turning because I didn't necessarily.
• 2:46
  Have any answers for it? I just.
• 2:48
  Wanted to point out some of the things that.
• 2:49
  We're going through as an industry, but that's.
• 2:52
  Current what we're going through, I think it's.
• 2:54
  Important to talk a little bit about the history.
• 2:57
  Of our industry and. How this whole thing started and
• 3:00
  I want to. Go back to when I was just
• 3:03
  entering the industry and how different it is to the point
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  where. I became an executive chef and
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  how? Different it is.
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  And even talk about some things that my chefs told me.
• 3:11
  About how different it was when they were cooks.
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  Some of the trends that I noticed earlier on that I think
• 3:16
  today are coming true and maybe. It'll help us.
• 3:19
  Understand where we're going in the future.
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  So let's go back and let's tell a little bit of a.
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  When I was in culinary school. So this is 1995.
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  I went to culinary school. I was already thinking about
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  cooking in 1990. Four, I was just getting into
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  the industry. By 1995.
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  In Portland OR the. Western Culinary Institute, AKA
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  and the Cordon. Is what a transition to while.
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  I was there in school. And back then, there weren't
• 3:39
  many culinary. Programs you would.
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  Look in the back of Bon. Appetit Magazine and See ads for
• 3:44
  The Culinary. Institute, The Western Culinary
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  Institute, California Culinary Academy, Scottsdale.
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  Culinary Academy, Johnson of Wells.
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  But that was pretty much it. Culinary Institute, at that.
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  Time really was only New York. I don't.
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  Believe Saint Helena campus. Was open I'm.
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  Pretty sure was just the New York CIA campus.
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  And culinary. School was a luxury it.
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  Was very different back then, I think if you were going to
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  culinary. School you were almost.
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  Guaranteed a career in cooking and when I first started
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  cooking, one of my first. Jobs in a professional kitchen.
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  Like I worked in a bakery and I worked in I worked.
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  A couple of days at McDonald's. But when I got into my first.
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  Real kitchen. I was in Portland, OR.
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  I was going to school full time and I was working.
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  Full time. And back then, most of your
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  chefs. Were European, at least the
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  chefs that you wanted to? Work for most of.
• 4:30
  Them were. European, either Austrian.
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  French. Italian.
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  There was a big mystique. Around this European pedigree
• 4:37
  chef in the. US.
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  And most of your high end restaurants at the time.
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  Not all of them. But the majority of them were in
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  high end hotels, luxury hotels. And country clubs.
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  A lot of hotels back then had what they would call the
• 4:49
  specialty restaurant, so hotel for example.
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  Might have a casual restaurant the three meal a day.
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  That serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and.
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  Then they would have the specialty restaurant, which was
• 4:57
  dinner service. Where they would have.
• 5:00
  Some European chef leading. The brigade, the food was very
• 5:04
  similar. Across the board it was that
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  classic Escoffier cooking, a lot of table side presentations, the
• 5:11
  Caesar salad made table side, the cherries.
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  Jubilee the Bananas Foster. The Steak Diane.
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  The Uncha Code Bordeleys. A lot of this was finished at
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  the table carving at the table prepared table side.
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  There was much more theater there.
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  Plates would arrive with a cloche on top.
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  There would. Be a moment to reveal that
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  customers. Would wait for oh.
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  What's Under the Dome? Everyone would get the plate.
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  Sat in front of them there. 'D be a moment.
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  Of anticipation the cloche comes.
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  Off Boom, you got a chicken? Coat on blue or.
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  Lobster thermidor, whatever it may.
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  Be but it wasn't as varied of. Cuisine as it is now.
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  Even back then, it was hard to find shallots in kitchens.
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  The first time I had seen a. Shallot was in.
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  Culinary school Japanese restaurants weren't even that
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  popular. I'd never had sushi until I was
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  about 22. Years old.
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  That's when I learned how to eat with.
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  So a lot of this. Stuff unless you were.
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  Living in the Bay Area. And exposed to that.
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  Or or New York City, Some of the.
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  Some of the bigger markets, most of the United States was pretty
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  much. Dominant Continental cuisine, as
• 6:14
  it was called at. That time.
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  And as I mentioned, most of the chefs.
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  Were European. Now the kitchen brigade was
• 6:20
  usually the executive sous chefs here, the chef, the cuisines,
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  sous chefs. The senior sous chefs were
• 6:27
  usually people that had. Some sort of culinary degree and
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  a lot. Of times at the.
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  More high end places they had. To have a specific.
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  Culinary degree. So it didn't matter that you
• 6:35
  went to culinary school. It also mattered which culinary
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  school did you graduate from? Did you graduate from CIA?
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  Or Johnson to Wells. A lot of times back then, the
• 6:43
  chances of you. Moving up were much quicker, I
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  remember the 1st. Kitchen I got in.
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  The head chef and the exact Sioux and the.
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  Sioux were the only ones that had.
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  Formal culinary training. The rest of the.
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  Culinary staff did not most of the people.
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  Working in the kitchens. Were your career cooks.
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  People that came into it, immigrants, people that really?
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  Didn't fit in. Elsewhere in.
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  Society so they fit in kitchens. Anthony Bourdain.
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  Talks a lot about this in his books.
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  The immigrant worker from. Latin America.
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  That was what you saw in a lot of the kitchens.
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  So the fact that I had a culinary school degree.
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  Right away, Chef tapped me on the shoulder and said.
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  We need to start. Preparing you to.
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  Become a sous chef because. Most kitchens back then, if you
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  had. One person with a culinary
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  degree. They were usually fast.
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  Tracked to management. Obviously that changed with
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  time, but going back to the style of food, there were other
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  styles. It wasn't just Continental.
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  There was also big. Emergence of Southwest.
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  Dean Ferrin, Mark Miller, Steven.
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  Piles, Robert Del. They were making waves in the
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  South. Out in New York, you had chefs
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  coming up like Daniel Blued. Jean George, A lot of these.
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  Chefs were. Starting to make a name for
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  themselves on the East Coast? On the West.
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  Coast you had of. Course Alice Waters.
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  Doing her thing, doing. That the very early farm to
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  table. Movement Wolfgang.
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  Puck Jeremiah Tower. Emeralds just.
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  Starting to come. Up at this time, you had
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  emerging chefs cooking really interesting food.
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  At that time like Ming Si. Where no one was thinking about
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  that E meets West. It was blowing.
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  People's minds. Roy Yamaguchi's coming out with.
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  Roy's doing the the fusion cuisine out of Hawaii, and it
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  was the hottest. Thing at the moment, but that
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  was about a handful. Of chefs.
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  Everyone else was pretty much doing the same thing when you
• 8:27
  were in culinary school and you'd ask.
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  Your instructors, where should I?
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  Work upon graduation. The answer you were getting back
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  then is much different. Than the answers you're probably
• 8:37
  getting today. Today they're telling you go.
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  Work in a top restaurant. A lot of.
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  Times in primary or secondary markets.
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  Like Chicago. Portland.
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  New Orleans is an upcoming market.
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  Nashville Austin back. It was you wanted to work in LA
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  at Spago, or you wanted to work. In New York for Danielle or.
• 8:56
  At Leserpe again. Times are different if you even
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  look at the food back then, the food that was served in the top.
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  Restaurants in the mid 90s would not pass in style and technique.
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  Today, because technique has gotten.
• 9:10
  So much sharper over the course of time, but as I was saying.
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  When your chef would. Advise you.
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  Where are you going to go work after culinary school?
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  They would normally. Recommend that you.
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  Work in a high end Country Club or the specialty?
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  Restaurant in a hotel. They used to tell us to.
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  Work at the Playboy Mansion. Things like that, like it was
• 9:29
  just. Different and the reason you
• 9:31
  wanted to work in a lot of these places was because the.
• 9:33
  American Culinary. Federation had a strong.
• 9:36
  Hold on, dining in America. It was very important to get to
• 9:39
  that. Certified, Executive Chef
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  certified. Master chef, European pedigree.
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  So you wanted to? Work under these chefs.
• 9:45
  So you could learn that classic style Escoffier cooking.
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  You wanted to learn how to. Make the chauffeur and.
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  Work in the Garde. Monge and make the show.
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  Mirrors that they would put on the buffets.
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  You you needed to learn all that.
• 9:57
  Those were the places that. People aspired to work.
• 9:59
  Obviously you don't even see some of that.
• 10:01
  Stuff anymore. I'm glad.
• 10:02
  That I came up in that era. Because I do know how to flute a
• 10:04
  mushroom, and my tour day is still pretty good.
• 10:07
  I could carve the hell out of a. Still, I think anyway stuff that
• 10:11
  you don't see. But.
• 10:12
  I came up in that era where. You were exposed to a lot of
• 10:14
  that. The age of information was
• 10:15
  different. If you wanted to learn
• 10:17
  something, you were. Picking up a book you were.
• 10:18
  Reading it. You're going to Barnes and Noble
• 10:22
  when a new. Book was coming out just to see
• 10:25
  what the recipes were. And back then, the recipe books
• 10:28
  were not as. Good as they are today, but you
• 10:30
  had. Charlie Trotter.
• 10:32
  Coming out with beautiful. But really what we read was like
• 10:35
  the sauce Bible or the a lot of textbooks style recipes.
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  For the New York. Times Cookbook is where.
• 10:39
  A lot of people were getting their ideas.
• 10:41
  Very few books with. Pretty pictures, but there was
• 10:44
  this series called Art. That would come out.
• 10:46
  I want to say it came out monthly anyway, I don't know
• 10:48
  someone's going to Fact Check me on that.
• 10:50
  But anyway, Art. Culinary would come out and it
• 10:52
  would have the most beautiful food pictures and it would
• 10:54
  showcase some of the. Hottest chefs at the moment,
• 10:56
  Again, if you go back and. Look at that, what we thought
• 10:58
  were beautiful. Pictures back then.
• 11:00
  Might not pass Buster today. Times were different.
• 11:03
  So learning was a little bit slower, so the techniques
• 11:06
  developed a little bit slower. You didn't have an opportunity
• 11:09
  to scroll on Instagram reels. And see some of the best chefs
• 11:13
  teaching some of the best techniques in some of.
• 11:14
  The world's? Best restaurants Things were
• 11:16
  moving along a little. Slower the place where I.
• 11:18
  Happened to be working. I saw the introduction of the
• 11:22
  human resources. Department and this was an
• 11:24
  interesting time. Now I know today.
• 11:27
  A lot of independent restaurants.
• 11:29
  Can be the Wild West. So some of the things that I
• 11:31
  say. Might be arcane, still might be
• 11:33
  normal practices today, but let's just assume we're.
• 11:36
  Working in a more. Industry.
• 11:38
  The GM of the hotel. Was usually the number.
• 11:41
  One and the executive chef was. Usually the number two, so if
• 11:45
  the. GM was on vacation the chef.
• 11:46
  Was in charge of the whole hotel.
• 11:47
  A lot of places did not have. Food and beverage directors and
• 11:50
  the hierarchy. Was GM executive chef.
• 11:53
  Or. Food and beverage director.
• 11:55
  And executive chef were equal. That started to evolve with
• 11:57
  time, where in a lot of places the food and beverage.
• 12:00
  Director became the boss. There's a legendary chef that
• 12:03
  used to run the CIA certified master chef Ferdinand.
• 12:06
  And he and I, about 2010 we were judging.
• 12:09
  Auditions for Gordon. Ramsay's master chef and he told
• 12:12
  me a story. That, I thought, was really
• 12:13
  interesting. He's telling.
• 12:14
  Me about the times when he was a young cook coming up.
• 12:17
  And he said, Andre, do you know why food and beverage directors
• 12:20
  exist in? Hotels and I said no, I don't.
• 12:24
  And he said because back in the day.
• 12:27
  The chef was this temperamental character that if someone
• 12:32
  complained. About the food and they wanted
• 12:35
  to speak to the chef. It wasn't.
• 12:36
  A good thing that was going to happen.
• 12:38
  Chefs, obviously. Big egos, egotistical and so
• 12:42
  there had to be a. And so they introduced.
• 12:44
  The food and beverage director that was.
• 12:46
  Going to be the liaison between the people in the kitchen, the
• 12:50
  chef in the kitchen. And the diners in the restaurant
• 12:53
  so that there would. Be a little bit of finesse and
• 12:56
  that you wouldn't have a chef. Going out saying you're going
• 12:58
  to. Eat it anyway.
• 12:59
  Squeeze a little. Bit of lemon.
• 13:00
  On it and you're an idiot. So that was.
• 13:01
  The introduction of the food and beverage director because the
• 13:04
  chefs were still. For lack of a better term, we're
• 13:06
  still Barbarians at that point, so he says to me once.
• 13:09
  We remember the history because now.
• 13:11
  Chefs are well. They're the face they like.
• 13:14
  Talking to guests. Once we remember this history.
• 13:17
  A lot of food. And beverage directors may
• 13:19
  become obsolete. And you're starting to see.
• 13:21
  That now. Where a lot of places.
• 13:25
  Run with what's called a. Chef and B meaning.
• 13:28
  They're the chef slash food and beverage director, or the chef
• 13:31
  and the food. And Beverage director are
• 13:33
  equals. Meaning the.
• 13:34
  Food and beverage director only overseas the service.
• 13:36
  Team and the executive chef only overseas the culinary team.
• 13:39
  Again, times were different, but back to this first job that I
• 13:44
  had, the executive. And I won't mention his Damon.
• 13:47
  I won't mention the place, but the executive.
• 13:49
  Chef was a European. Old school chef, older guy.
• 13:52
  Probably in his. 50s at that time.
• 13:54
  And we had just gotten a human. Resources manager and he calls a
• 13:58
  staff meeting and he tells us in.
• 13:59
  Advance, the human resources manager is going to be.
• 14:01
  Here I don't know why they want to be.
• 14:03
  It's my meeting, but whatever they have to watch.
• 14:05
  Since they're new. And we go into the meeting.
• 14:07
  Not ever. I remember like it's comical to
• 14:11
  me to look. Back at it because I was
• 14:14
  watching. The end of an.
• 14:15
  Era in real time. The Executive.
• 14:19
  Chef tells us first order of business, there'll be 0
• 14:23
  overtime. So if you don't finish your.
• 14:25
  Work on time. You need to clock out and finish
• 14:27
  working. And the human resources director
• 14:29
  says, excuse me, Chef. And he says, yeah, what?
• 14:32
  You can't do that. And he says.
• 14:34
  Can't do what? You can't.
• 14:35
  Make them clock out and not pay them if they're still working
• 14:38
  and he looked at. This person and said what?
• 14:41
  Anyway, and he moved on. But he didn't understand.
• 14:44
  But I'm watching this and I'm like.
• 14:45
  Oh, it's like. A car crash happening in real
• 14:48
  time, he says next. Order of business.
• 14:51
  Everyone needs to take their break.
• 14:53
  And if you don't, take your. I'm going to take it.
• 14:55
  Out anyway. And the human.
• 14:56
  Resources director interjects again and says excuse me and he
• 15:00
  says yes and he says. You can't say that.
• 15:02
  And he says say what? He says.
• 15:04
  You can't take out their break. If they don't take a break now
• 15:07
  this is. Happening in front of all the
• 15:09
  culinary department and the chef says, but what do you mean I'm
• 15:13
  the chef? I just remember slunking down to
• 15:16
  my chair, thinking, oh, he doesn't get it.
• 15:18
  Not long after that he wasn't around and so you started to see
• 15:23
  this emergence. Of the.
• 15:24
  American Chef and. Pushing out a lot of that old
• 15:28
  European guard and a lot of hotels.
• 15:30
  Country clubs and independent restaurants.
• 15:33
  It was interesting for me to see it happen.
• 15:35
  Because I was coming in at the. Tail end of the.
• 15:37
  European chef now there's still. Shady owners out there, that.
• 15:40
  Don't pay you and do terrible. Things like take out your meal
• 15:44
  breaks and all that. I I know that still happens.
• 15:46
  In the industry it. Shouldn't happen, but it's not
• 15:49
  common. And I think the people that do
• 15:51
  that still know they're wrong. In the early days when I was
• 15:54
  coming up, they. Didn't know they were wrong,
• 15:55
  they just thought. That's the way it was.
• 15:57
  There was nothing. Wrong about it.
• 15:59
  One of my chefs had told me a story.
• 16:01
  About how different it was when. He came up, he told me.
• 16:04
  And this was a very large kitchen, let's just say 100
• 16:07
  cooks. The executive chef is the king,
• 16:10
  he says. The executive chef.
• 16:11
  Would come in. At a certain time every day,
• 16:13
  they would set up a table for. The chef in the kitchen and the
• 16:17
  other chefs would. Feed them so the chef would.
• 16:19
  Sit down with a. Glass of wine middle.
• 16:21
  Of service and also. Eat while the restaurant is
• 16:23
  open. Just to make sure that he is
• 16:26
  also being fed. So again, times are different.
• 16:29
  Over abundance of staff executive chef.
• 16:32
  Tall white hat. You know the picture.
• 16:35
  Cravat Crisp. Buttons black, Maybe a flag?
• 16:40
  On the lapel. Crisp uniform, right?
• 16:44
  And he says the executive chef would have.
• 16:47
  A lot of the. Cooks were pink cravats.
• 16:51
  For those of you that don't know, the cravat is the necktie.
• 16:53
  That you see a lot of chefs wear like the traditional uniform.
• 16:56
  You see it a lot in culinary. Still a lot of.
• 16:59
  The cooks back then would wear the pink cravat.
• 17:01
  And my chef told me. The reason that they were.
• 17:04
  Wearing the pink cravat it was because.
• 17:06
  The chef knew. That he didn't have to talk to
• 17:07
  them, so he would only talk to people with a white.
• 17:10
  Cribat if they were. Wearing a pink cribat.
• 17:13
  They weren't even allowed to speak to the chef.
• 17:14
  They had to talk to someone who would talk to someone.
• 17:16
  Interesting times. And then when it was payday
• 17:19
  again, times were different. Everyone's getting paid in cash.
• 17:22
  With an envelope. And so the chef would hand out
• 17:25
  the cash envelopes and people. Would walk up and he would take.
• 17:29
  A certain percentage of the Cook's pay out of the envelope
• 17:33
  because that was their rent in order to.
• 17:34
  Work in the chef's kitchen. They had to pay rent.
• 17:37
  Times are different. I didn't come up in that era.
• 17:40
  But I think it's wild. To think about because that was
• 17:42
  only. I was only.
• 17:43
  About 10 to 15. Years removed.
• 17:45
  From that. Coming in.
• 17:46
  So here I am coming up a cook and you're getting shift beers.
• 17:51
  Depending on how many hours you would work in the day.
• 17:52
  They would. Give you a beer and some people
• 17:54
  would save them, Some people would put them in their locker.
• 17:56
  And use them to trade. With other cooks for whatever.
• 17:59
  But it wasn't out. Of the norm for people to get.
• 18:02
  Two or three shift beers during their shift, we used to joke and
• 18:06
  say. The the more beers you would
• 18:07
  have during service, the better the food would get.
• 18:09
  Towards the end of service, I'm not saying.
• 18:11
  Restaurants don't do that still. And I'm sure there's probably
• 18:13
  some chefs that. Have more than a shift beer.
• 18:15
  They might have been a couple of shift.
• 18:16
  Vodkas, but like I said, this was just common.
• 18:19
  It wasn't even frowned upon. Like the the GM, every single
• 18:22
  person knew that this. Was happening and it was an
• 18:24
  encouraged practice the way we get.
• 18:26
  Wellness days now was the way we got shift beers done.
• 18:29
  You needed a mental health day? No, you.
• 18:31
  Just got a shift. That was your mental health.
• 18:33
  This is the time of the explosive chef.
• 18:35
  So when you watch an old show. Called Boiling Point with
• 18:39
  Gordon. Ramsay And you see that?
• 18:40
  Anger in them a. Lot of chefs were like that,
• 18:43
  that wasn't not. Common in those days.
• 18:45
  We Fast forward a few years later, and now we have.
• 18:49
  Myself. Being an executive chef, human
• 18:52
  resources departments have now. Been in for about. 1015 years
• 18:56
  it's pretty. We're much more.
• 18:58
  Mindful of things. Kitchen environments are better,
• 19:00
  but they're not perfect. You still have a lot of what's
• 19:04
  called the ghost in the. Machine A lot of those bad
• 19:06
  habits still exist. Because a lot of cooks now.
• 19:08
  Are older than me. They came from that era, so
• 19:12
  there's this blend of the. Old guard bleeding into.
• 19:15
  Cooks and chefs that are roughly my age.
• 19:17
  Keep in mind, I was a young executive chef.
• 19:19
  I had people that were. Reporting to me as.
• 19:21
  The exact chef that may have been 10-15 years older.
• 19:23
  Than me who remembered those old days and the shift.
• 19:25
  Beers and the paying rent to work in kitchens.
• 19:29
  Wearing the pink. Necktie and.
• 19:31
  Again, this wasn't every single kitchen, but it was a lot of
• 19:34
  kitchens. Now when I was coming up as a
• 19:36
  chef towards the middle of my. Career culinary schools.
• 19:39
  Were popping up everywhere the Food Network explodes.
• 19:42
  Everyone has a culinary. Degree I would get.
• 19:44
  Stacks of resumes and I would look through them and there
• 19:47
  would be nothing different about them and say.
• 19:49
  The Cordon Bleu Art Institute. Whatever.
• 19:52
  College. They happened to come from
• 19:54
  everyone had a culinary degree and it.
• 19:55
  Made you nothing special because you'd get.
• 19:57
  Hired in the kitchen, they'd say I got.
• 19:59
  A culinary degree, and I'd say so does everyone.
• 20:02
  Else, except they also have a couple of.
• 20:03
  Years of experience on you, so times were changing.
• 20:06
  I used to sit. On the board of a culinary
• 20:08
  school. I won't say which one, but I
• 20:10
  remember. Going and doing demos.
• 20:12
  And talking to the. Students and I looked around and
• 20:15
  I noticed that a large portion. Of the people that were.
• 20:20
  In school were females, I would say.
• 20:22
  It was almost. 50% female. Now keep in mind when I was
• 20:25
  coming up there was very few. Females in the kitchen and now
• 20:27
  all of. A sudden I'm in.
• 20:27
  Culinary school, and I'm noticing.
• 20:30
  This is about 2008 to 2010. I'm noticing that a large
• 20:33
  portion. Of the students are female.
• 20:35
  When I graduated culinary school, there was.
• 20:37
  Probably 50 people in my. Class with maybe about 5
• 20:40
  females. Now I'm noticing that the ratio
• 20:41
  is about 5050. And I remember.
• 20:45
  Thinking at that moment in the next few years.
• 20:47
  We're going to see. The rise?
• 20:49
  Of the female chef and I think you're seeing that today.
• 20:51
  You see a lot more female chefs. Very talented ones.
• 20:54
  Too some of the best chefs in the world.
• 20:56
  Right now are female look at. Claire Smith in London.
• 20:59
  And Sophie pick Dominic Kren. So many.
• 21:02
  Others I'm just. Naming a few but.
• 21:05
  Shout out to my friend. Tiffany Derry in Dallas.
• 21:07
  Great female chef. One of my closest.
• 21:09
  Friends, Anastasia Quinones at Jose in Dallas.
• 21:12
  Fantastic. Female chef, anyway.
• 21:14
  There's a lot of. Fantastic female chefs.
• 21:16
  No sense in listing them all. You know who you are, and it's.
• 21:18
  Nice to see. It's nice to see that.
• 21:22
  The industry is changing and evolving.
• 21:24
  We're not all. Cooking Continental cuisine.
• 21:26
  We're not all working in country.
• 21:27
  Clubs and hotels, We're not all. Working under Certified Master
• 21:31
  Chefs and you don't need to become a.
• 21:32
  Certified Master Chef. In order to have success social.
• 21:36
  Media is changing everything people want to work.
• 21:39
  With chefs who are big on social media.
• 21:40
  Sometimes much more than chefs that are highly technical.
• 21:44
  Because if they don't have a. Social media presence.
• 21:45
  No one even knows who you. Are I'm exaggerating?
• 21:48
  Not that no one knows you are, but you understand.
• 21:51
  Take what I say with some nuance in a grain of salt.
• 21:53
  Anyway, I wanted to point that out.
• 21:57
  Because we talked. About how different the
• 21:58
  industry? Is now and I.
• 21:59
  Would tell you that there was a significant.
• 22:01
  Change in the industry from. COVID 2020 to currently.
• 22:06
  You see a significant. Change in the industry and what
• 22:08
  we want. We no longer want shift beers.
• 22:10
  We want mental health days. We no longer only have.
• 22:12
  Europeans running the kitchen. You have some Great American
• 22:15
  chefs. Running kitchens, but also.
• 22:17
  Great international chefs that aren't.
• 22:18
  European, from Thailand, from India and all sorts of
• 22:23
  backgrounds, the. Rise of the Mexican Chefs.
• 22:26
  See what Enrique. Alvara is doing and shout out to
• 22:29
  a lot of my friends. We're doing great things with
• 22:32
  food, like Gabe. Morales here in Austin, TX at
• 22:34
  Bacalar. And for me, Nunez?
• 22:39
  And the whole Taco. Mafia here in Austin.
• 22:42
  Times are changing. Where's it going?
• 22:45
  Is the ship sinking? I don't know.
• 22:47
  Robots are coming in. Whataburger has an all robot.
• 22:52
  Apparently I haven't seen it. AI is coming into.
• 22:56
  Alleviate a lot of the paperwork.
• 22:57
  That chefs were doing, putting you back in the kitchen.
• 22:59
  And by the way, I'm gonna get off.
• 23:01
  Subject here. Just for a minute.
• 23:03
  I've seen a lot of AI food pop up as fake.
• 23:07
  And people commented like my God this looks beautiful now if you
• 23:10
  remember a while back I. Posted a whole bunch.
• 23:12
  Of AI food pictures almost a year ago, it feels like.
• 23:16
  Just to show you. What can be done?
• 23:17
  But then I never really saw anything of it again.
• 23:19
  And then now all of a sudden I'm seeing it and people claiming
• 23:21
  that it's their own, but it's fake.
• 23:23
  And I hope. You all are not getting fooled
• 23:25
  by AI food. I had a very good chef friend of
• 23:28
  mine DM me an image. Of some.
• 23:32
  AI food and everyone commenting about how beautiful it looks
• 23:35
  and. He says.
• 23:35
  Who's going to tell him? I think I just commented a robot
• 23:38
  face on that picture. But it got taken down.
• 23:40
  They don't want to get. Caught, but anyway.
• 23:43
  That's why you listen to Chef's PSA.
• 23:44
  Because I'm going to tell you the real and I'm going to keep.
• 23:46
  You awake and ready to notice when someone's trying to.
• 23:48
  Fool you anyway. Rant over like I said I had.
• 23:51
  I have no. Today I just.
• 23:52
  Wanted to point out a little. Bit of context as we talk about.
• 23:55
  Where the industry was. And where it's headed, my
• 23:57
  crystal ball tells me. That in terms of food trends,
• 24:01
  most likely. We're headed.
• 24:03
  To a very individual and unique expression of food.
• 24:06
  So it's it's no longer that continental.
• 24:08
  It's food that I feel like expressing for me for whatever
• 24:10
  reason. Maybe it's the town I'm from.
• 24:13
  Maybe it's the food I grew up with.
• 24:14
  Whatever it is, it's yours. It's unique.
• 24:16
  It's your own identity on a plate.
• 24:18
  You're starting to see more of that.
• 24:19
  Kitchen culture is changing and people have to adapt, I think.
• 24:22
  The one thing that won't ever change.
• 24:23
  Is that kitchens are still hard, you still have?
• 24:26
  To stand up all day you still? Have to cook.
• 24:28
  Customers still got to get fed the restaurant.
• 24:30
  Still has small margins. The rush is still going to come.
• 24:33
  It's still going to be chaotic. People are still going to get to
• 24:36
  ring in. Orders and then.
• 24:37
  Kitchens going to get slammed. Because the server pocketed the
• 24:40
  tickets, those things don't change.
• 24:41
  But. How we handle those things is
• 24:44
  changing anyway. Where's it going?
• 24:46
  Let. Me know in the comments if
• 24:48
  you're watching. On YouTube, make sure you.
• 24:50
  Hit the like button. Subscribe comment if you're on
• 24:53
  Spotify. Make sure you leave five stars.
• 24:56
  Nothing less than five stars, 5 star podcast.
• 24:58
  We all know this. If you haven't left five stars.
• 25:01
  Stop what you're doing. Do that right now.
• 25:03
  It means a lot. Go to chefspsa.com you get all
• 25:06
  the merch, all the books. Go check me out.
• 25:08
  I'm now on Facebook. Go follow on X.
• 25:11
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• 25:12
  I will see you all next week. Have a great week.
• 25:14
  Hit the porno music.